As Oil From BP Disaster Heads To Shore, Gulf Coast Waterkeepers Prepare For Danger To Public Health

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

IRVINGTON, NY – May 6, 2010 - Waterkeeper Alliance, the global environmental organization, and its member organizations on the Gulf Coast, are alerting local authorities to the health dangers that may be caused by oil from the BP disaster, expected to hit Mississippi’s Cat Island and Ship Island with high tide later today. The groups warn that oil and its fumes are highly toxic and will have negative health impacts on those exposed to it, especially workers, volunteers, those with respiratory ailments, the elderly, and the children of the Gulf Coast

A fact sheet on the demonstrated impacts to human health from exposure to crude oil has been provided by Dr. Michael Harbut, Karmanos Cancer Institute, and Dr. Kathleen Burns of Sciencecorps, outlining the dangerous health hazards posed by oil and oil fumes.

• Visible effects such as skin damage, headaches, dizziness, nausea, confusion, coughing, respiratory difficulty, chemical pneumonitis, and other health problems.
• Serious effects without obvious immediate symptoms including liver and kidney disease, lung damage, immune system suppression, abnormal hormone levels, infertility, anemia, nerve damage, mutations, cancer, and other serious health problems.
• Serious risk to pregnant women, both to their own health and to the fetus’s, including abnormal growth and development, skeletal deformities, and other birth defects.
• Extreme risk to children, especially newborns, who are very vulnerable to toxic chemicals in crude oil due to incompletely formed immune and detoxification systems. They may experience abnormal growth, neurocognitive damage, cancer, and other health conditions.
• Those with preexisting medical conditions can see a worsening of those diseases due to even short-term exposure.

Whether health damage occurs depends on individual characteristics and exposure levels, but health experts agree that no exposure is free of heath risks. There is no "safe" level of exposure to carcinogens such as benzene; crude oil contains multiple carcinogens and mutagens.

It is incumbent upon scientists and physicians who know the diseases and suffering that poisons can cause to warn those in danger of exposure, yet political and economic pressures often prevent those in Government from providing full and accurate health hazard information, even when lives are at stake,” says Dr. Harbut. "We cannot sit idly by and let this happen. In my work with people exposed to crude oil, I have seen cancers and other serious illnesses. Benzene can cause leukemia, and many other chemicals have equally serious consequences. I hope that accurate information on the hazards of crude oil will improve protections for workers and the public, and avoid unnecessary suffering and death."

Waterkeeper Alliance’s Gulf Coast groups – Louisiana's Lower Mississippi Riverkeeper and Louisiana Bayoukeeper; Alabama's Mobile Baykeeper; and Florida's Emerald Coastkeeper and Apalachicola Riverkeeper – are now collaborating with their communities up and down the coast to mitigate the effects of the massive spill on fragile coastal ecosystems. The Waterkeepers, who are uniquely connected to and deeply involved in the vital fishing and coastal communities of the Gulf, are also turning their attention on how to best communicate with the public in order to protect coastal and inland residents’ health.

"Our community is facing the unknown with little to no help, information or protection," says Casi Callaway, Mobile Baykeeper. "It is unfathomable that the air quality monitoring isn’t happening on every street corner and available on every website. Everything the authorities omit or hide puts our families at greater risk for serious, potentially long-term health impacts."

"We know that the fragile gulf environment and our coastal communities will be hurt by BP’s disaster for years to come,” said Paul Orr, Lower Mississippi Riverkeeper. "This event is unprecedented; we cannot afford to assume anything about its effects. It is absolutely vital that intensive, long-term, testing and monitoring of the oil’s impacts be conducted by the appropriate agencies so that action can be taken to restore the environment and, most importantly, protect human health."

To see what Gulf Coast Waterkeepers are doing to fight the disaster and to find out how you can help, visit www.saveourgulf.org.

To speak with a Waterkeeper in your area on the health impacts of the BP oil disaster, please call the contacts listed below.

Media Contacts:

John Bianchi for Waterkeeper Alliance: 212-576-2700, ext. 228. Click here to e-mail.

Casi Callaway, Mobile Baykeeper: 251-209-4253. Click here to e-mail.

Paul Orr, Lower Mississippi Riverkeeper: 225-802-9255. Click here to e-mail.

Chasidy Hobbs, Emerald Coastkeeper: 850-429-8422 Click here to e-mail.

Tracy Kuhns, Louisiana Bayoukeeper: 504-289-7162 Click here to e-mail.

Dr. Michael Harbut: (248) 547-9100. Click here to e-mail.

Dr. Kathleen Burns: (781) 861-1108. Click here to e-mail.

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Waterkeeper Alliance is a global environmental organization uniting more than 190 Waterkeeper programs around the world and focusing citizen advocacy on the issues that affect our waterways, from pollution to climate change. More information can be found at www.waterkeeper.org.